SuperGroup share price soars on strong Christmas figures January 14, 2015 SuperGroup's share price soared 7.5 per cent this morning, after the company revealed strong results for the 11-week Christmas trading period. The business, which owns the SuperDry brand, had a pretty impressive period up to January 10, with total retail sales up 17.8 per cent, while like-for-likes rose 12.4 per cent. Ecommerce was [...]
Ocado Christmas sales soar and looks ahead to first ever full-year profit January 14, 2015 Online grocer Ocado reported its customer fulfilment centres processed close to 40 per cent more items in the week to Christmas for Ocado.com and Morrisons.com than over the same period the previous year. On the company's biggest day in the run-up to Christmas sales climbed 15 per cent from 2013 to almost £6m. Gross sales [...]
Market lifted by upbeat view of Christmas retail – London Report January 19, 2015 BRITAIN’S main share index rose yesterday, extending a strong run, with retailers such as Tesco among the biggest gainers from a more upbeat view of the sector after a better-than-expected Christmas period. Electronics retailer Dixons Carphone rose 4.4 per cent, the top riser on the FTSE 100 index, with traders citing optimism ahead of the [...]
Shop Direct delivers Very merry Christmas as online orders boom January 14, 2015 LITTLEWOODS owner Shop Direct yesterday said sales surged over the Christmas period as Black Friday became its busiest shopping day. The online and catalogue retailer, owned by billionaire brothers Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay, said sales across its biggest website Very.co.uk were up 134 per cent year-on-year on the US-style shopping day. Chief executive [...]
Tuesday to be UK’s busiest shopping day December 17, 2014 THE UK high street will have its busiest shopping day of the year two days before Christmas, with Visa Europe predicting spending to peak at £1.3bn for the day. Spending is forecast to rise six per cent and transactions seven per cent from last year. Tuesday 23 December is predicted to see 34m transactions in [...]
Mothercare CEO Mark Newton-Jones on not going into sale pre-Christmas January 15, 2015 The Christmas trading season was something of quick-draw for retailers, after firing off a raft of promotions to boost sales that culminated in Black Friday – the UK’s biggest ever shopping day. Yet those that do not get caught in the crossfire of promotional activity can have the upper hand, according to Mothercare CEO Mark [...]
Record trading brings festive cheer to retailer House of Fraser January 6, 2015 HOUSE of Fraser has posted a record Christmas, buoyed by Black Friday and strong online sales, lifting expectations for the department store group’s full-year results. Like-for-like sales for the six weeks to 3 January rose eight per cent, with online sales up 31.2 per cent while sales from bricks and mortar stores rose 4.2 per [...]
John Lewis calls for an end to heavy Black Friday discounting January 5, 2015 JOHN Lewis boss Andy Street has urged UK firms to hold back on Black Friday discounting because of its heavy cut to profits. The retailer’s managing director said the American-inspired sales day at the end of November gave John Lewis its biggest trading week on record, with sales up 22 per cent on last year, [...]
Retailers miss out on festive shopping boom December 22, 2014 MANY British retailers have failed to cash in on the Christmas shopping boom, according to research released today, causing the number of struggling businesses in the sector to increase considerably. According to research by specialist professional services group Begbies Traynor – covering 1 October to 17 December – UK retailers are considerably worse off this Christmas [...]
Network Rail chief Mark Carne turns down bonus after “unacceptable” engineering delays caused “misery” for passengers December 30, 2014 Network Rail chief executive Mark Carne has said he will not take his bonus, after the travel chaos that erupted after engineering works overran this Christmas. Carne stood to receive a £34,000 performance-related bonus on top of his £675,000 a year salary. But in light of the huge disruption at King’s Cross and Paddington – [...]